5 ms·

why would being born with the right passport allows you to pollute 5x more with impunity? the planet doesn't give a crap about our made up borders. What makes

• tsimionescu 4y ago
  If anything, Europe and the USA and Russia should get way less carbon credits per capita, since they've had a massive headstart at consuming fossil fuels compared to the rest of the world, which should really be priced in somehow if we're talking about fairness.
  • kurupt213 4y ago
    The carbon footprint of the major economies is shrinking, and given the technological development since the dawn of the industrial revolution, there is no reason for emerging economies to have the same emissions profile as they ramp up.
    • tsimionescu 4y ago
      Their carbon footprint is shrinking, but it's still higher per capita then most other countries in the world except China (or, for the USA and Germany, including China). And, while progress has been made, fossil fuels are still by far the cheapest source of energy around, especially if you don't have great expertise. So, in principle, we should be letting the developing nations of the world use much more fossil fuels to power their economies, while those that have been using it for centuries at this point should use far less. Note that I'm not actually advocating for this, as stopping global warming is far more important than some abstract notion of historical fairness in international politics, which is even more idealistic than world peace.